Fraud investigators from the Tel Aviv District Police on Monday arrested the owner of a manpower company along with three additional suspects. According to police, over the past several months, the four provided numerous businesses across the Gush Dan area with dozens of illegal Palestinian workers, using forged Israeli ID cards and other falsified documents. The Palestinians were transported to job sites and housed in apartments in the Gush Dan area that were rented and paid for by members of the network.
Some business owners ignored the documentation
An investigation launched several months ago revealed that the owner of a manpower company based in Holon had operated a network aimed at recruiting Palestinians illegally present in Israel. These individuals were brought into Israel equipped with forged Israeli ID cards. Many businesses throughout Gush Dan made use of his services.
The suspects approached a variety of businesses in Tel Aviv, including supermarket chains and well-known restaurants. They supplied these establishments with Palestinian workers carrying forged IDs and issued fictitious invoices. Police said this morning that some business owners were questioned on suspicion of employing illegal workers while turning a blind eye to the forged documentation shown to them.
Four arrested and five illegal residents detained
Yesterday, as the investigation moved to its overt phase, officers from the Tel Aviv District Police’s fraud unit, together with Border Police forces, arrested four suspects. Among them were the 28-year-old owner of the manpower company and a 26-year-old senior employee. Both are residents of southern Israel. A third suspect, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the Hebron area with a valid permit to stay in Israel, was also arrested. He had been in contact with another suspect, a 32-year-old who supplied the network with Palestinian workers holding forged Israeli ID cards. The two were apprehended this morning at a checkpoint near Ramallah.
As part of the operation, police searched the company’s offices in Holon. At the suspects’ homes, they seized luxury vehicles, thousands of shekels in cash, computers, mobile phones, and various documents. During a separate search, officers from the Ramat Gan–Bnei Brak Police located five illegal Palestinian residents in an apartment in Ramat Gan. According to the investigation, they were employed by the four detainees.
All suspects were transferred for questioning by the Tel Aviv District Police fraud unit. Yesterday afternoon, they were brought before the Bat Yam Magistrate’s Court for a hearing to extend their detention, which was granted until April 23. The five illegal residents had their detention extended until today.
The investigation was carried out in cooperation with the Israel Tax Authority’s Yahalom Unit and the National Insurance Institute.
